First ATV Leaves
Europe to Prepare for Launch from Europe's Spaceport in French
Guiana
(15 June 2007) Time to bid farewell to
the most sophisticated spacecraft ever built in Europe.
The
Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will leave ESA's ESTEC establishment in the
Netherlands in mid-July and be shipped to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French
Guiana.
The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is the first fully automatic re-supply spacecraft of its kind. (courtesy: ESA/D. Ducros)
There, it will start its launch preparation
campaign which will last several months, before being launched by Ariane 5 not
earlier than mid-January 2008 and, after a 12 to 15 day journey, docking
automatically with the International Space Station using its own propulsion and
navigation systems.
The ATV European resupply spaceship is a crucial
element of the International Space Station (ISS) programme. It will deliver
refuelling propellant for the Station's own propulsion system, as well as air
and drinking water for the crew. It will also transport science experiments and
related hardware, thus making a major contribution to ISS logistics. The ATV
will also give the Space Station an orbit reboost to overcome the effects of
residual atmospheric drag. After serving for six months as a work space
extension of the ISS, its final task after undocking will be to dispose of
waste during a guided and controlled destructive re-entry into the atmosphere,
high over the Pacific.
(source: ESA)